Published in The Day on September 1, 2013
Elizabeth “Lisa” Skinner (Cook) Reed passed away peacefully with her family by her side, at her home on Fishers Island on Tuesday, August 27, 2013.
Lisa was born in New Haven, the first child of Elizabeth Skinner Cook and George Cook III. Lisa was raised in Darien, and spent most of her summers on Fishers Island, N.Y. Lisa graduated from Dana Hall School in 1971 and Skidmore College in 1975 where she met many of her lifelong friends.
After college, Lisa went to work at Mystic Seaport Museum as a museum teacher and was recruited to The American Museum of Natural History in New York where she worked with David Hurst Thomas as an archeological associate in digs at St. Catherines Island, GA, and early Native American sites in Tonapah, NM.
Before settling in Stonington and later Mystic, Lisa lived in Higganum where she was vice president of development at the National Theatre of the Deaf. For many years Lisa was director of membership, development officer and acting vice president of development at Mystic Seaport. In 2009, Lisa was recruited by the Coast Guard Foundation as vice president for individual giving and board relations.
Lisa was pre-deceased by her father, George Cook III. She is survived by her mother, Elizabeth Skinner Cook; her husband of almost 35 years, William Davis Reed; her two children, William Skinner Reed of St. Petersburg, FL and Elizabeth Macy Reed of Boston, MA; her three brothers, William Hubbard Cook, George Bowen Cook, and David Brewster Cook.
The family asks in lieu of flowers, that donations be made to Mystic Seaport Museum or the Coast Guard Foundation in Lisa’s memory.
There will be a Service of Remembrance at 11 a.m. Thursday, Sept. 5, at Mystic Seaport, 75 Greenmanville Ave., Mystic and a Memorial Service at 11:15 a.m. Saturday, Sept. 7, at the Union Chapel on Fishers Island. Gaffney-Dolan Funeral Home, 59 Spruce St., Westerly, is in charge of the arrangements.
